hurt the edge of southbridge chip wafer. will it still work?

[jonjan]

I non-smartly used a metal screwdriver to lift up a stock southbridge heatsink (I know, very un-smart.. i should have waited till i was more calm)

The screwdriver gouged the edge of the green pcb wafer, and gouged into 2 of the dimples at the ends of the circuitry at the edge.

I grabbed this image from online.. the gouge in my wafer is about as large as the red circle and affects 2 of the dimples at the edge.

Do I need to get a new mobo? or are these dimples for cooling, or some other purpose that 2 can be damaged and the circuitry will still function?

It's on an ICH7R SB chip on a GA-G1975x gigabyte board

thank you very much
JJ

 

[The_Prophecy]

It might.... it might not, only way to tell for sure is to assemble the system and turn it on.

 

[apache_lives]

It might.... it might not, only way to tell for sure is to assemble the system and turn it on.

:roll:

 

[jonjan]

It might.... it might not, only way to tell for sure is to assemble the system and turn it on.

yes
If it doesn't work, then it's a clear answer..
What I want to know is if it does work, is it reliable? Or is it a problem waiting to happen...

 

[Pain]

From all indications, the dimple are known as via's. They create a path between layers of the PCB. It's difficult to tell from the picture if that's actually what they are.

With that said, test it. That's the only way to know. My gut feeling is that it will be fine, but you never know.

 

[maury73]

Vias at that position aren't for cooling: cooling vias are placed under the chip die. The image is not very clear, but in that position of the ICH7R PCB there are control signals, not simply GND or VDD connections.

I think it's a risk powering up the mobo: in case the vias had seriusly damaged and shorted each other or between themselves and GND/VDD you can even damage the CPU.

Here's up to you... I personally would change the mobo, not risking to damage the CPU also, but it's only an opinion, since a clear answer would be possible only analyzing closely the damage you've done.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Another possibility would be to put in a spare CPU that you don't care about and see if it blows. If it does... it won't be a big loss.... if you don't have a spare cpu that uses that socket lying around, you can power it up if you want, but if you don't want to take the chance, get a new board.

 

[jonjan]

Another possibility would be to put in a spare CPU that you don't care about and see if it blows. If it does... it won't be a big loss.... if you don't have a spare cpu that uses that socket lying around, you can power it up if you want, but if you don't want to take the chance, get a new board.

Thanks all,

yes, this is another good reason not to rush and test it. I sure don't want to risk damaging my P4 3.6ghz.

I'm just going to get a replacement (if i can find it!), and sell this board on ebay with a note about the damage to the southbridge chip. As long as it Could work, just so it's known that it's 'at your own risk'


this was a good lesson to be calm and gentle when doing delicate work.

thanks again for all the ideas.. it made it easier for me to decide what to do
Jon

 

[Pain]

I'd get a magnifying glass or a microscope and inspect it, but then again, I sort of know what I'm looking at.... And, I also wouldn't have screwed it up to begin with.

Honestly, I doubt you did any damage, but anything is possible, so I take no responsibility if you do any further harm to something. :?

 

[jonjan]

I'd get a magnifying glass or a microscope and inspect it, but then again, I sort of know what I'm looking at.... And, I also wouldn't have screwed it up to begin with.

Hey, are you suggesting that my actions were less than perfect ?!??
:lol:
yes, i think i'd rather not take a chance. I use my computer for financial work for the benefit of aid and education groups, working with stocks. So a tiny glitch in the future could be much more than just inconvenient.

thanks again all

Imperfect, but always Learning
Jon

my build, with tons of photos..
www.helpusall.com/computer

 

[weilin]

Has requesting a replacement chip from Gigabyte ever crossed your mind? Even if you have to pay for it, it would be cheaper htan buying a whole board i would assume.

 

[4Aces]

If you had nothing to do with it then RMA the thing to the vendor or manufacturer, though I've not had good luck with Giga-byte motherboards if thats what it is. Asus or MSI are better for both product and support, turn around time is about the same though on RMA's to be fair to Giga-byte. Myself I'd use it ONLY if I HAD to use it, I'd either get something different or RMA that board.

 

[jonjan]

Has requesting a replacement chip from Gigabyte ever crossed your mind? Even if you have to pay for it, it would be cheaper htan buying a whole board i would assume.

This an idea.. Is it possible to install a southbridge ICH7 chip? Does it require very fine solder-work?

 

[jonjan]

If you had nothing to do with it then RMA the thing to the vendor or manufacturer

this was 100% caused by very un-wise decision and action of mine, so I couldn't RMA it knowing the problems it could cause the next person who'd get it.
I do have an asus board though P5WDG2-WS that's chips were very faulty, 2 of the same model board actually. I irreversibly modded one of the boards and can't RMA it. The other board is stock and i'm hoping they'll give me a refund. That board has so many glitches, it's so beta, the 2nd raid controller doesn't work in like 90% of the boards. I have heard that earlier asus boards can be solid, so just to balance out my comments.

Anyway, back on topic, RMA is a good idea, but my best bet with the board is to ebay it and hope someone wants to risk some money on a board with a known-damaged southbridge chip. Somebody might feel it's worth a few bucks to see.

 

[Mondoman]

Has requesting a replacement chip from Gigabyte ever crossed your mind? Even if you have to pay for it, it would be cheaper htan buying a whole board i would assume.

This an idea.. Is it possible to install a southbridge ICH7 chip? Does it require very fine solder-work?
Don't mess with anything that isn't socketed. You think you're worried about the board's stability now -- just wait until you've been hand-soldering.

 

[Pain]

Let me make some educated guesses and speculation on the situation. It's not on the CPU socket so you haven't messed with any power connections for the CPU. If you power the board up then more than likely if there were to be any damage it would likely be on the south bridge. And, you can power up the board without a cpu just to see if anything smokes, and if no smoke, then install the CPU.

Now, once you install the CPU and if it works, run tests for several days using prime95 and other stress tests. If it works like that, then you're good to go.

I think you're worrying about something prematurely and should just test it out.

 

[weilin]

I guess you could also send the board back to Gigabyte and have them fix hte problem for you. For a fee of course, and i would imagine it still being cheaper than buying a whole new board.

 

[maury73]

Simply impossible, since they are BGA chip: you can't solder them without an hot air drill, specifically designed for BGA reworking.